Coronavirus (COVID-19): At least 52 deaths have been reported from across the states, the highest India has seen in a single day since the start of the outbreak.

Coronavirus (COVID-19): By Tuesday night, the total number of positive cases in the country had reached 19,975.

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Maharashtra added another 552 novel Coronavirus patients on Tuesday, taking the country within touching distance of 20,000 cases. The day also saw at least 52 deaths being reported from across the states, the highest the country has seen in a single day since the start of the outbreak.

By Tuesday night, the total number of positive cases in the country had reached 19,975. Maharashtra, with 5218 cases, accounted for more than a quarter of that number.

Tuesday happened to be the third straight day when Maharashtra contributed more than one-third of all the new Coronavirus cases reported in the country. On Sunday too, the state had added 552 cases, while on Monday 466 new cases had emerged in the state.

A total of 1510 new infections were reported from across the country on Tuesday, the second-highest single day increase since the virus began to spread in India in the first week of March. The biggest increase had come on Sunday, when 1577 new cases had emerged. Other major contributors to Tuesday’s increase were Gujarat, which reported 239 fresh cases, Rajasthan, which had 159, and Uttar Pradesh, which had 153 new cases.

In the process, Gujarat overtook Delhi as the state with the second highest number of cases in the country. Gujarat now has 2178 cases while Delhi, which added 75 new cases on Tuesday, has 2156.

Even Kerala reported a significant number of cases on Tuesday. Its 19 cases were the highest the state has reported in the last 20 days. Kerala now has 426 people who have tested positive for the infection.

Despite the large number of cases being added in the last few days, the spread of the disease in India has slowed down considerably as a result of the lockdown. India took eight days to travel from 10,000 cases to 20,000 cases. Before the impact of lockdown had become evident, the country was witnessing an exponential growth in the number of cases. It had taken around two weeks to move from three cases at the start of March to 100 cases, another two weeks to reach 1000 cases, and a little more than two weeks to touch the 10,000 figure. At that rate, the country would have on its way to reach one lakh cases by the end of the month. But thanks to the lockdown, and other measures taken by the government, all indications are that the total number of cases at the end of this month would be somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000.

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Medics wearing protective suits are seen in the premises of LNJP hospital, in New Delhi, Tuesday, April 21, 2020. (PTI Photo: Manvender Vashist)

A large proportion of the fresh cases are being reported from only a handful of states. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh together accounted for 75 per cent of all new cases on Tuesday. If the contributions of another four states – Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana – were included, it would account for more than 90 per cent of all new cases.

These were also the states where maximum number of deaths had happened. There were nineteen deaths in Maharashtra, some of which had happened earlier but could be confirmed only on Tuesday. Gujarat reported at least 13 deaths while Madhya Pradesh had eight, and Uttar Pradesh four.